Ten months after it began, the end of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix is in sight.

Multiple sources close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the eight-man tournament’s finals are expected to head to Columbus, Ohio’s Arnold Sports Festival 2012. The festival has previously hosted several UFC and
WEC events.

That means March 3 is likely to see a heavyweight bout between Josh Barnett (31-5 MMA, 2-0 SF) and Daniel Cormier (9-0 MMA, 6-0 SF) that will determine the promotion’s tournament champion. As with previous events held at the festival, Nationwide Arena is expected to host.

However, an Ohio Athletic Commission official today told MMAjunkie.com no event is officially scheduled for March 3, though multiple organization have been discussing the possibility with Arnold Sports Festival organizers. If a deal is reached, the commission would then need to approve the show.

As per a new broadcast agreement announced Thursday between Showtime and the Zuffa-owned Strikeforce, the March event’s main card would air live on Showtime while preliminary-card fights air on Showtime Extreme.

The Arnold Sports Festival is a four-day competition series an expo that hosts a variety of events, including a bodybuilding competition, amateur MMA competition and various fitness and sports exhibitions.

The timetable of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix was unclear for several months due to a broken hand Cormier suffered in the semifinals of the competition, even though the fighter recently returned to training and said he was working through the injury in anticipation of the finals. Barnett escaped unscathed from his semifinal bout.

Having recently gotten a cast on his hand removed, Cormier has a little less than three months to get up to speed.

The heavyweight grand prix kicked off to great fanfare in February at East Rutherford, N.J.’s IZOD Center, where former PRIDE champ Fedor Emelianenko returned after suffering the first real loss of his career. He took on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the competition’s opening round/quarterfinals and was upset in shocking fashion when a cageside doctor ruled him unable to continue after the second round.

In the other quarterfinal bracket, Andrei Arlovski was unsuccessful in halting a three-fight skid when Sergei Kharitonov knocked him out cold in the first round of their bout.

The competition then moved on to Dallas, where a second quarterfinal event hosted Barnett vs. Brett Rogers and Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum in co-headlining bouts. Barnett took a little more than a round to submit Rogers, and in a heavily booed fight, Overeem outstruck and outpointed Werdum to advance to the semifinals.

There, at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati in September, Barnett easily submitted Kharitonov. Missing from the tournament, however, was Overeem, who was released by Strikeforce parent company Zuffa when he withdrew from the competition with a rib injury (that at the time was compounded by a toe injury). In his place went alternate Daniel Cormier, who shocked many by flooring Silva in the first round with a flurry of punches.

If booked, “Strikeforce Grand Prix Final: Barnett vs. Cormier” would air the day after a scheduled UFC on FX 2 event in Sydney, Australia.

Check back with MMAjunkie.com for more details on the event as they become available.

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